- Meta to take legal action against Israeli spyware company NSO
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Meta has said it is filing a federal US court contempt order against Israeli spyware firm NSO Group for violating a permanent injunction that barred it from ever targeting WhatsApp and its users. The company said on Monday that its WhatsApp messaging service disrupted new spear phishing attempts linked to NSO, an entity blacklisted by the United States government for engaging in activities that are contrary to national security or foreign policy interests. … Meta said WhatsApp took down test accounts and groups created by NSO on its platform. NSO did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Last year, a US court ordered NSO to stop targeting Meta’s WhatsApp, a development the spyware company warned could put it out of business.” (06/08/26)
- UN protests women’s arrests in Afghanistan for alleged clothing violations
Source: Seattle Times
“The United Nations’[s] mission in Afghanistan has expressed concern over what it says are arrests and detentions of women in western Afghanistan for allegedly not adhering to regulations governing how they should dress. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said on X late Sunday that the arrests and detentions in the city of Herat raise ‘serious human rights concerns.’ It did not provide details. Afghanistan’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice dismissed the reports of arrests as ‘rumors.’ … A human rights monitor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details to the media, said Monday that monitors had verified at least 16 arrests and detentions, including of a pregnant woman, in Herat since Friday over alleged non-compliance with dress requirements.” (06/08/26)
- How the Libertarian Movement Missed the Authoritarian Moment
Source: The UnPopulist
by Marlene LaruelleInterview with Shikha Dalmia. Dalmia: “My break with libertarianism happened when Trump arrived on the scene. I was working at Reason magazine at that time and, the minute Trump came down the golden escalator, it was clear to me that he was a different kind of politician: he was a demagogue and an authoritarian, he didn’t really understand liberalism, and he didn’t understand America’s core commitments. … It is not that libertarians were completely unconcerned about Trump; it’s that they were just not taking the threat seriously. They were treating him as a normal politician, just bad in a different kind of way and, at best, maybe a corrective to the excesses of the left. This chasm between me and libertarian circles just kept growing, and it was getting hard to get my point of view taken seriously.” (06/08/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/how-the-libertarian-movement-missed
- The Pentagon’s New War — Canceling American Religion and American History
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Professor Paul Finkelman“The Trump administration recently announced that it is removing about 180 religions from those recognized by the Pentagon. This is an obvious violation of the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberty. In essence, the Administration has ‘established’ 31 religions as acceptable to the U.S. government and denied religious freedom to members of many other faiths. … The message of the administration is that some faiths matter, and many do not. There seems to be some politics involved here. The ‘liberal’ Unitarian/Universalist Church, which is as old as the nation itself, is no longer officially a church. Nor are churches tied to minorities, such as the Native American Church or the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME).” (06/08/26)
- Why Trump Seems Confused By His Own War
Source: Persuasion
by Sam Kahn“With all the bravado that tends to accompany Donald Trump, something else has been striking me recently—when faced with major decisions, there’s a way in which he carries himself like a wise fool in a Shakespeare play, bemused by all the tumult that’s going on around him. In a revealing moment, on March 17, when asked to explain why the United States was at war with Iran, Trump said, ‘You could say we did it out of habit’ — as if the war was just a bit of noise going on in the background and had nothing really to do with him. … what is this storm that sweeps Trump along, this force that he can only bemusedly watch? I would argue that it’s political realism — the doctrine that’s taken over the second Trump administration, maybe not entirely with Trump willing it, but which marks a fundamentally different era in international relations.” (06/08/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/trump-misunderstands-realism
- Trump Can’t End War Against Iran Until He Gets Israel Under Control
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Connor Echols“Amid a rapid escalation between Israel and Iran, Yemen’s Houthis have rejoined the Iran war, launching a volley of missiles at Israel and pledging to implement ‘a complete and total ban’ of Israeli shipping in the Red Sea. It’s safe to say that the tenuous ceasefire in the Middle East is now unraveling. President Donald Trump demanded that all parties deescalate, writing on Truth Social Monday morning that ‘Final negotiations on ‘Peace’ are proceeding’ so long as ‘ignorance or stupidity’ don’t get in their way. But the latest developments suggest that the United States has limited control over the path of the conflict, which is now entering its fourth month.” (06/08/26)
- How Much Ethnocentrism is Okay?
Source: Racket News
by Matt Taibbi“I don’t think of America as a ‘white’ country. To me the best part of our system is that anyone can be an American overnight, provided he or she accepts a few minor guidelines, like agreeing to tolerate other religions and embrace free speech. As for the early academic weasel word ‘ethnocentrism,’ it’s so close in meaning to ‘chauvinism’ that it probably never needed to exist, but in the name of making work for Yale social scientists, we apparently must live with it. How chauvinistic should Americans be? I don’t know. Just enough? As much as any other citizen of any other place?” (06/08/26)
- Pastor’s open letter to Talarico says it all
Source: Washington Times
by Everett Piper“The list of biblical absurdities from James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, continues to grow. In addition to his claims that God is ‘nonbinary,’ that ‘the Bible is silent about abortion’ and that there are ‘six different genders,’ we now have his contention that Mary’s consent to the virgin birth is a story about her being ‘pro-choice.’ How should we respond? Well, sometimes someone else has already said it better than you ever could. The following is an abbreviated version of an open letter written by Jeff Mullen, a pastor from Nevada, and posted to his social media on May 29.” [editor’s note: Except for the six-genders nonsense, and the concept of “informed consent” for a minor, a case can be made for each of the other statements, if you view the Bible as an “inspired” metaphysical history book written by human beings – SAT] [additional editor’s note: Judaism, in the Midrash and Talmud, does in fact recognize six genders — Zachar, Nekevah, Androgynos, Tumtum, Ay’Ionit, and Saris – TLK] (06/07/26)
- Bessent’s Neo-Mercantilism: New Podium, Old Mistakes
Source: The Daily Economy
by David Hebert“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others argue that tariffs and industrial policy can restore America’s strength. In reality, diversified supply chains and open markets provide greater resilience than economic nationalism.” (06/08/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/bessents-neo-mercantilism-new-podium-old-mistakes/
- An Ode to Bicameralism
Source: Law & Liberty
by Ojel L Rodríguez Burgos“Bicameralism has been a vital safeguard of liberty — it would be sorely missed if Western democracies traded it away.” (06/08/26)
- It Will Stop When the American People Decide to Stop It, and Not Before
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis“We can blame the politicians. We can castigate them mightily, and we should, because they have — both parties — become a liability to the nation, wholly untrustworthy, corrupt and self-centered. Hey, Republicans: ‘If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small’ (Proverbs 24:10). Maybe no thought in human history describes gutless Republican Party politicians better than that. Here is one that perfectly pictures the Democrats: ‘Every intent of the thoughts of [their] heart [is] only evil continually’ (Genesis 6:5). Back to the days of Noah … But, yeah, while we can, and should, reprimand politicians of both parties, who is really to blame here? Who elects the politicians to office? Ultimately, the American people have no one to blame but themselves for the condition of their country.” (06/08/26)
- Reason Roundtable, 06/08/26
Source: Reason
“Do Democrats Still Have a Big-City Crime Problem?” (06/08/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/06/08/do-democrats-still-have-a-big-city-crime-problem/
- Rising, 06/08/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on the recent allegations surrounding Maine Democratic Senate Candidate Graham Platner, which have led to some reflecting on the #MeToo movement.” (06/08/26)